insistedvsinvitedTell them apart

Which to use

“insisted” and “invited” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,483
“insisted” frequency rank
#2,839
“invited” frequency rank
9322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature insisted invited
Definition simple past and past participle of insist simple past and past participle of invite

Where the eye mixes insisted and invited

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
insisted
7 ch
invited

Why the eye confuses insisted with invited

A purely visual mix-up. insisted (/ɪnˈsɪstɪd/) and invited (/ɪnˈvaɪtɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

insisted is recorded at frequency rank #6,483, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈsɪstɪd/. invited is at rank #2,839, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈvaɪtɪd/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 9322, this pair ranks #497,988 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of insisted vs invited

Shared letters: deint. Private to "insisted": s. Private to "invited": v.

"insisted" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "invited" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • insistedinissted · innsisted · insisetd · insissted · insistde · insistedd · insistted · insitsed
  • invitedinivted · innvited · invietd · invitde · invitedd · invitted · invtied · invvited

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "insisted" for "invited" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɪnˈsɪstɪd/ versus /ɪnˈvaɪtɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "insisted" or "invited"?
"invited" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,839 in our English list, against #6,483 for "insisted". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "insisted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "invited" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #497,988 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "insisted" and "invited" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "insisted vs insistent". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #497,988 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list